All Good Things(AUVF)
All Good Things Part 1 November 27th 2012 Prologue The Asurans have fought the Tau'ri to a standstill over the past year. Each side has inflicted losses on the other, but neither can cripple their enemy for good. But now, it is time for the tides of War to turn. Only one side can emerge victorious in the end. Only one side can survive. Red Skies at Dawn McKay ran into the Atlantis Control Room with Todd coming behind him as quickly as he could. "We did it!" He exclaimed breathlessly. General O'Neill turned to him. "Did what?" "The PWARW!" McKay said. "Yes?" O'Neill said, still unsure of what was going on. "Well...we finished it!" "Really?" O'Neill said dubiously. "The weapon has performed admirably in all tests," Todd asserted, speaking for the first time. "Oh...well then," O'Neill said. "Well done." "'Well done'?" Rodney said in disbelief. "Don't you realize what this means? We can finally finish off the Asurans and end the war!" "Yes," O'Neill conceded. "But only if we can survive that." He gestured broadly to one of the primary sensor display screens. McKay looked at the screen. "Oh...crap..." Lantia: Orbit Above Atlantis "...that's basically our situation." O'Neill finished saying. Colonel Payne wasn't sure how to respond. Fifteen Celestia Class Heavy Cruisers and twenty Asuran Destroyers was certainly nothing to sneeze at. "Well...sir," he started. "We have the Aurora, Washington, Theseus, Yosemite, Dauntless, Roosevelt, Churchill, Scipio, Jacob Carter, Daedalus, and Phoenix in-system or within a few minutes distance of Lantia. I don't know if we'll be able to get you any more that that, though. We could contact the Jaffa, Travelers, and Genii to see if they could spare some ships." "Do that," O'Neill said. "We can use all the help we can get. ETA on the Asuran fleet is one hour." An hour later the fleet was ready. Consisting of four Serpent class ships, four Washington class ships, the Aurora, Daedalus, and Phoenix, two Ha'tak, three Al'kesh, four Genii Destroyers, and five Traveler Generational Ships, they stood ready to take on the Asurans. Atlantis was also prepared to fire its drones to aid in the battle should the Asurans venture in range of its rather impressive armament. "Sir," said the sensor officer on board the Aurora. "The Asuran fleet should drop out of hyperspace any minute." "All right," Colonel Payne said. "Have our ships target Celestias once they come out of hyperspace. The Jaffa and our other allies can take on the Destroyers." Just then the Asuran Fleet came out of hyperspace. They paused for a split second while they registered the non-Tau'ri ships in orbit above Lantia, but then moved in, opening fire with their Drone weapons at long-range. "Colonel, the Asuran fleet has exited hyperspace. They're opening fire," the officer on board the Aurora reported. "Order the fleet to open fire, then break formation and flee back around the planet." Payne ordered. "We want to see if we can bring Atlantis' defenses into play." As the fleet opened fire, drones from one of the Celestias scored a direct hit an Al'kesh that didn't manage to evade them in time. Even though the Jaffa had been given upgraded shields, they still weren't good enough to resist a direct hit from Asuran weapons, and the Al'kesh's shields failed almost instantly. It was joined in its fiery death by the Yosemite, which had been unfortunate enough to have an entire salvo of drones from a Celestia hit it squarely along its 'keel', cracking it open before a hyper-jump could be initiated. "Sir, we just lost the Yosemite and an Al'kesh," Marks reported on board the Daedalus. "Keep evading their fire. Order all our plasma cannon gun crews to target that Celestia to starboard. Atlantis should be launching her drones soon," Caldwell ordered. After a couple more minutes of fighting the Asurans had finally been drawn in close enough for Atlantis to launch her drones. As the small, glowing missiles ripped through the atmosphere and passed into space, the Scipio went up into flames as its shields failed under the onslaught of dozens of Asuran drones. It managed to open a hyperspace window, but the ship crashed into the edge of the subspace tear, ripping it and its crew to shreads an atomic diameter in width. However, five Asuran Destroyers had been neutralized and three of the Celestias' hulls had begun to buckle under the collective fire of the Tau'ri fleet. The Aurora fired a final salvo into one with her forward plasma cannon batteries and its hull split cleanly down the middle. The ship was enveloped in soundless secondary explosions as the Aurora turned her fire to the next enemy ship. "Sir, one Celestia has been destroyed, but our shields are at forty-five percent; we've lost the Scipio, and the Traveler's ships are taking heavy damage." Just then the drones from the surface reached the remaining Asuran ships. Their shields couldn't withstand the onslaught of the hundreds of drones blasting into them at respectable fractions of C, and the Asuran's shields were blasted away. The remaining Destroyers were completely wiped out of existence, but several Celestias managed to survive with minimal shielding. The ploy had worked; Atlantis' drone armories were completely depleted, but the Asuran's force had been crippled. "Sir," the sensor officer on board the Aurora. "The Asuran fleet has been severely damaged by Atlantis' attack. All their Destroyers were decimated, and only eight Celestias remain...all with minimal shielding." "Order the fleet to reform and take out those ships!" Payne ordered. The Allied fleet turned on the Asuran forces and unleashed terrible barrages of fire into their weakened shields, ripping them away and pounding their hull with munitions. Within minutes, it was over. End Part 1 Part 2 The Pieces are Moving "As you know," McKay was saying to the higher ranking officers in Atlantis, "A working prototype of the PWARW was actually developed a couple months ago. However, we had a few...ah...difficulties attaching it to a ship. Something about the ship's already active power-grid caused the weapon to short out during testing. However, we finally managed to make it work." "How?" Colonel Ellis asked. "Well," McKay said. "Thanks to the brilliance of moi...we discovered that it was a simple matter of attaching the weapon to a ship without an active powergrid. Something which, by the way, we had just come back to Atlantis from doing when the Asuran fleet arrived yesterday." "So...what ship is the weapon on?" Colonel Payne asked. "The HC-307-02...Athena. The latest of our distinguished Dreadnought class ships." McKay said with a flourish. Lantia: Tau'ri Shipyard Colonel Matthews strode proudly onto the crowded bridge of the Athena, gazing out the viewport at the pristine lines and dull grey hue of her hull. He was proud to command such a fine ship. "When they said 'they don't make 'em like they used to'," he said to the ship. "They sure weren't talking about you." "Sir?" his helmsman, Major Ashley said. Matthews noticed several other crewmen staring as well. "Sorry, Major," Matthews said. "Just talking to myself." "Ah." "Well then," Matthews said after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "Let's see if we can't get this bird in the air, shall we?" "Aye, sir," Ashley replied, powering up his console. Matthews activated a transmission to the Shipyard Control. "SC, this is Athena," he said. "Requesting permission to launch." "This is Shipyard Control," a voice came back. "You are cleared for launch, Athena. Godspeed." The Athena rose majestically above the shipyard, hovering for a few seconds before firing her main thrusters and shooting off into the sky. Her powerful engines carried sped through the atmosphere in less than a minute, and she broke into space to a view of the Tau'ri/Alliance fleet. Gathered solely for the assault on Asuras, the fleet consisted of eight Daedalus class ships, twenty-five Serpents, forty Washingtons, the Aurora, the Dakara, twelve Al'kesh, fifteen Genii Destroyers, eight Traveler Generational Ships, and finally, the Traveler's Celestia Class Heavy Cruiser. The Athena joined with the impressive array of ships, and contacted the Aurora. "Colonel Payne," Matthews said. "This is Matthews. The Athena is under your command, sir." "Understood Athena," Payne replied. "Prepare to jump to the rendezvous." The massive fleet surged forward all at once, hundreds of plasma drives lighting up the sky. They opened dozens of hyperspace windows...and vanished into the black of space. Deep Space: Fleet Rendezvous The Allied fleet dropped out of hyperspace at a point far from any planet, and waiting for them were eleven Wraith Hives. On any other occasion, this would have caused the fleet to erupt into a panicked frenzy, but now they merely held position as Colonel John Sheppard activated a transmission to one of the Hives from on board the Daedalus. Earlier the Day Before; After the Battle With The Asurans "We won't be able to take this fight to the Asurans even with the PWARW," Sheppard protested. "You heard McKay. It has to charge for, like, two minutes before it can even fire. There are over seventy-five Asuran ships in orbit above Asuras. It's insanity to even suggest that we could hold that many ships off...even with the whole fleet!" "Well," said O'Neill patiently. "Do you have a better plan? Because if not then I have to continue with the briefing tomorrow. The politicians have decided that they want this war over now...it's out of my hands." "Well if you go through with this the war is going to be over, and not in the way they want!" Sheppard said hotly. "Listen," O'Neill said, "I understand, and I happen to agree with you, but unless you give me another option, I just don't see what I can do." "Well..." Sheppard began, but was cut off by Todd, who unexpectedly broke his typical silence. "I may have 'another option', General..." Back At the Rendezvous "Todd? Is that you?" Sheppard asked tentatively. "It is indeed, Colonel Sheppard," Todd's voice came back. An image appeared on the Daedalus' forward viewport displaying Todd and four other Wraith on the bridge of one of the Hives. "Here are the Hives I promised you. Are you ready to begin?" Sheppard looked to Caldwell, who nodded. "Yes we are, Todd," he said. "We're sending you the jump-time now to coordinate our hyperspace jumps." The Wraith Hives and Allied fleet formed together for their final hyper-jump. Their drives flashed, and blue-green subspace tears enveloped the fleet. The time for debate was over; now it was time for war. Asuras: Planetary Orbit The Allied fleet burst out of hyperspace right on top of the unsuspecting Asuran fleet. The 304s and 315s immediately opened fire with their plasma cannon and managed to destroy two Celestias. The Traveler's Generational Ships and Celestia broke into a flurry of motion upon exiting hyperspace, cutting a swath through a group of Asuran Destroyers. The Wraith Hives opened up with their massive armament, but the Asurans had become aware of the attack by then and the Wraith bolts impacted the shields of their target ships, inflicting minimal damage. Still, the Allied fleet had managed to take out six Asuran ships before the battle had even begun, and that was good. "Sir," Ashley said on board the Athena. "We're ready to begin charging the PWARW." "Start it up, Major," Matthews ordered. A large bay on the underside of the Athena opened up and a series of pulsing blue rods extended from the ship. The Asuran ships immediately detected this, and four Celestias began to move towards the Athena, but a pair of Wraith Hives placed themselves between the Asurans and the Athena, soaking up fire to allow time for the weapon to charge. A Traveler ship erupted into flames as a Destroyer's KEWs pounded it's shields into oblivion. It careened off course into an Al'kesh, and they both exploded with a brilliant flash of light. The Wraith Hives began spewing hundreds of Darts, which swarmed the Asuran ships, distracting them from the larger forces and, if they could do nothing else, crashing themselves into the shields and hulls of Asuran ships in reckless kamikaze runs. Two Serpents and three Washingtons executed emergency jumps as their shield failed, barely escaping destruction. A 304, the Victoria, however, was not so fortunate, and it exploded in the massive particle discharge of a hyperdrive generator overload. "Time to discharge is t-minus thirty seconds, sir," Ashley reported on board the Athena. A blue corona appeared around the weapon as it neared its peak, but suddenly one of the Hives guarding it exploded, and the Asuran ships fired droves of drones toward the now open Athena. There was no way her shields could withstand such and onslaught, but, out of nowhere, the Apollo swooped down in front of the Athena, taking the drones head on. Her shields buckled under the strain, and collapsed. The drones sliced through her hull like butter, and the crews on board the Tau'ri ships could only watch in horror as her hyperdrive core went critical. In a final act of defiance, she plunged like a knife into the nearest Asuran Celestia, taking it with her and destroying five other cruisers with the particle shockwave that emanated from the explosion's center. The Apollo, one of the very first Daedalus class ships, was gone...taking all her hands with her. In shock, the Taur'i officers continued to fight mechanically. The loss of the Apollo and her crew was a devastating blow. The PWARW discharged, finally; too late to help the brave crew of the Apollo. The blue wave of energy swept over the Asuran fleet and enveloped Asuras, destroying every replicator in the system. The Asuran threat was ended...but at a grave cost. The officers of the Allied fleet shared in a bittersweet victory. Of the one-hundred and twenty-two ships that had set out to Asuras, only eighty-six remained. The cost of peace is grave indeed. The Drums of War Are Silenced Hard Sheppard, still recovering from the shock of seeing so many friends die in one day, activated a transmission to Todd's hive. "Well...we did it...the Asurans are destroyed." "Indeed," Todd said. "You have done a great service for all the galaxy today. I...thank you." "We're sending teams to the surviving Celestias and to the planet to salvage what we can," Sheppard continued brokenly. "You're welcome to stick around, if you want...but I doubt the higher-ups will let you keep anything." "No, I believe I shall leave now," Todd said. "I have done enough, perhaps, for one day. Farewell, Sheppard." The comm went silent. Wraith and humans are long enemies, but today they have worked together for the good of both species. Alas, that all good things... End Part 2 Part 3 The Traitor Todd turned away from the viewscreen to a holographic view of the battlefield. The Asuran ships were dead in space, and the planet was completely devoid of replicators. Tau'ri teams showed up on the life-signs scanner, some salvaging the least damaged of the Asuran Celestias, and others taking control of the ground facilities on Asuras. He smiled to himself, and prepared to send his remaining Hives their final orders; the jump coordinates of their planned rendezvous with the rest of his hidden forces. "Yes," he said to no one in particular. "it has been a productive day." "Indeed commander," a voice said behind him. "You've performed most admirably." Todd whirled around to see one of his lieutenants standing in the bridge entrance, holding a weapon that it took Todd a moment to recognize as a Lantian War-era Disruption Rifle. No longer in use, it was designed solely for one purpose; to kill. It emitted a wave of energy capable of disrupting the bonds between animal cells, essentially liquefying its target. Todd dove behind a console as the lieutenant fired the weapon. The green wave of energy was absorbed harmlessly into the hull of the Hive, but it would have been more than enough to kill him. Todd drew his stunner and rolled to the main control station, firing as he went. The lieutenant dodged his fire and shot another pulse from his weapon. This time, Todd wasn't quite fast enough, and the blast carved a hunk out of his thigh. Todd grunted in pain, but managed to reach onto the console and activate the ship's alarm. A piercing wail split the atmosphere inside the ship, and Todd heard Grunts running towards the bridge. The lieutenant snarled at him, then ran off through a side door. Todd managed to drag himself onto a chair as the Grunts ran in, and waved them after the traitor. He activated the internal sensors. The traitor had run to the private docking bay Tod had had placed just starboard of the bridge, and was in process of stealing Todd's private, and heavily modified, Dart. Todd activated a comm channel to the Aurora "Colonel Payne," he ground out through clenched teeth. "One of my lieutenants has betrayed me. You should see on your sensors that he's taken my personal Dart from my private hangar. You must stop him." "Understood, Commander," Payne said, "Thank you for the heads up. We'll see what we can do about it." As the transmission cut off, Todd turned the screen back to sensors. The traitor was running for deep space, but five Tau'ri Washington class corvettes were already giving chase, and it didn't stand a chance. One managed to unload several missiles at it, and the Dart flickered out of existence. Todd sat back in the chair, satisfied, but was startled when his sensors suddenly registered twenty Hives and thirty Wraith Cruisers dropping out of hyperspace almost right on top of where the traitor's Dart had exploded. They opened fire immediately on the Tau'ri ships that had broken formation to chase the traitor's Dart, destroying them almost instantly. He quickly scanned all the information his sensors could gather on the new arrivals...and immediately saw that something was wrong. Most of the life-signs on the ships read as Wraith, but a not-so-small percentage read as 'unidentifiable'. How could this be? And how had his day gone so utterly wrong? An Unexpected Return The viewscreen on board Todd's hive suddenly activated, and on it stood an individual Todd had thought dead. His bearing was different, but it was definitely the same person. Todd's nostrils flared in hatred and revulsion when he saw him, and his voice was the whisper of death. "Michael." "Yes," Michael said triumphantly. "I have returned, and I call on you to accept me as the Leader of all Wraith." "You?" Todd said scornfully. "You half-breed? Never." Michael glared for a moment, then smiled coldly. "Perhaps...you desire proof of my worthiness." He held up onto the screen, by the red hair that had grown from its scalp, the head of a female Wraith. Todd blanched in horror. "The High Queen..." he managed to rasp out in shock. Long the greatest secret of the Wraith, the High Queen was rumored to have been the first of all Wraith; the mother of the species. She had been hidden away for millennia, surviving on a hidden world that not even the highest commanders of her fleet had known of. Todd was one of the few Wraith who had ever seen her, and then only once, on a viewscreen. Still, his memory was vivid enough for him to know that this was indeed the dismembered head of the High Queen of all Wraith that the half-breed, Michael, held before him now. "What have you done?" he gasped. "I have taken what is mine. The rule of the Wraith. You rejected me...but now I have returned to show you just how wrong you were. I am the future of the Wraith." "Never!" Todd snarled. He cut off the transmission. He began to recall his forces to attack position, but was stunned to see four of his six remaining Hives desert him. Todd swallowed. No...things could decidedly not get any worse. Asuras: Planetary Orbit, Allied Fleet "Sir!" Ashley exclaimed on board the Athena. "Multiple Wraith vessels just dropped out of hyperspace. They're opening fire on the 311s...the 311s are gone." "What are they doing now?" Matthews demanded. "They're holding position. One of them has opened communications with the allied Hives." "What are they saying?" "I don't know, sir...it's encrypted," Ashley replied. "Wait...the allied Hives are moving. Todd's and another are taking up attack positions, but four are going over to the new arrivals. Sir...they've opened fire on each other!" "Order the fleet to help Todd's hives, and have our men on the surface try and get those defenses back up; we may need them." The Allied fleet came around to help Todd's two Hives, which were taking heavy damage. The Wraith ships immediately focused on them, pounding them with massive amounts of fire. They even blew through the dead hulks of the Asuran ships that drifted in their way. A Ha'tak was destroyed, as well as two Generational ships and a Genii Destroyer. The fleet didn't try to engage the Wraith head-on; there were too many. Instead they tried to evade their fire, distracting them long enough for the surface teams to activate the drone defenses on the planet below. Two Serpents and a 304 were forced to jump away before their shields failed. "Sir," Greene said on board the Aurora. "The fleet is taking heavy damage; we can't hold out much longer." "Just try and give those men on the ground a little more time," Payne ordered. The Allied fleet was being beaten back fast, but suddenly Asuras' defenses activated! Thousands of drones sped from massive wells on the surface, flying into the heart of the Wraith fleet. They cut massive numbers of Wraith ships to pieces...but the Wraith were now aware of the threat. They turned their massive 'falling-star' batteries onto the planet, and explosions the size of Hiroshima bombs exploded over the planet as they hit. "Get our teams out of there now!" Payne ordered. The Tau'ri teams were beamed up just as the drone stations went up in massive plumes of smoke and fire. The collateral damage from the weapons was enormous, and much of the city-planet was destroyed. "Order the fleet to fall back!" Payne ordered. "We can't stand up to all these ships now that the drone defenses are gone. Order the fleet to reform at Checkpoint Delta." The Allied fleet jumped away, leaving the Hives alone at Asuras. They fired a few more bolts at the planet to be thorough, then they jumped as well. The Horns of Ares The Allied fleet waited at the checkpoint for two hours for Todd's Hives...but they never showed. It wasn't known if they'd been destroyed before they could jump...or simply felt no need to continue the alliance. Whichever it was, the Allied fleet members disbanded, each going to their worlds to defend their own peoples from the Wraith onslaught they feared was coming now that they were no longer having to fight the Asurans. The Tau'ri sent a scout back to Asuras, and found that although the weapons depots and production facilities were utterly destroyed, much of the city itself was salvageable. Sorely in need of space for their civilian population, they brought a new gate to the planet to replace the one destroyed by the Wraith, and began repairing the buildings they could fix. They had also salvaged twelve Asuran Celestias as well as retrieving sixteen ZPMs and several hundred drones before the Wraith had arrived. No, the battle for Asuras was not a total debacle. Meanwhile, Michael was recruiting Wraith to his cause, and so when the Wraith do come, it will be not one...but two enemies the Tau'ri will face. Three sides; the pure Wraith, Michael's following, and the Tau'ri and their allies. It will be a bloody free-for-all...and who knows who will emerge victorious? Certainly, none shall emerge unscathed... By Lt. Col. Mcoy